Uttar Pradesh has an important place in the culture of India; it is considered to be the birthplace of Hinduism, has been the ancient seat of Hindu religion, learning and culture, and has many important sites of Hindu pilgrimage. The State also has several sites important to Buddhism: the Chaukhandi Stupa marks the spot where Buddha met his first disciples, while the Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath commemorates Buddha's first sermon. Also the town of Kushinagar is where Gautama Buddha died.

Throughout its history, the region of Uttar Pradesh was sometimes divided between smaller kingdoms and at other times formed an important part of larger empires that arose on its east or west, including the Magadha, Nanda, Mauryan, Sunga, Kushan, Gupta, Pala and Mughal empires.

The Indo-Gangetic plain, that spans most of the state, is also the birth place of the Indo-Islamic syncretic culture of the medieval period. It holds much of the heritage of the Mughal Empire, including the world famous mausoleum Taj Mahal built by Shah Jehan, the magnificent tomb of Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great in Agra and Akbar's capital-palace in Fatehpur Sikri. It was a centre of nationalism during the British colonial period and has continued to play a prominent role in Indian political and cultural movements. The state has a rich heritage of traditional crafts and cottage industries of various types that employ highly skilled craftsmen and artisans.

Hindus constitute 70% of the population in the state. Islam is practised by about 28% of the population while the remaining 2% include Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians, and also the tribal population.

The known history of Uttar Pradesh goes back 4000 years, when the Aryans first made it their home in 2000 BC; this heralded the Vedic age of the Indian civilization. The Aryans, infiltrating from their home-base in the present day Punjab region, had settled in the Doab region and the Ghagra plains, and called it with various names: Madhya Desha (Midland), Aryavarta (the Aryan land) and Bharatvarsha (the kingdom of Bharat, an important Aryan king). Early Indo-Aryan presence probably corresponds, in part, to the presence of Ochre Coloured Pottery in archaeological findings.[14]

The Aryans spread to other parts of the Indian subcontinent, reaching as far south as Kerala and Sri Lanka and, in due course, ancient kingdoms (Mahajanapadas) arose at several large population centres.

Most of the empire building invasions of North India, from the east as well as the west, passed through the vast swathe of Gangetic plains of what today is Uttar Pradesh. Control over this region was of vital importance to the power and stability of all of India's major empires, including the Mauryan (320-200 BCE), Kushan (100-250 CE) and Gupta (350-600 C.E.) empires.

Following the Hun invasions that broke Guptas' empire, the Ganga-Yamuna Doab saw the rise of Kannauj. During the reign of Harshavardhana (590- 647 CE), the Kannauj empire was at its zenith; spanning from Punjab and Gujarat to Bengal and Orissa - and parts of central India, north of the Narmada River - it encompassed the entire Indo-Gangetic plain. A patron of Buddhism and the University at Nalanda, Harsha organized theological debates and also patronised art and literature. A noted author on his own merit, he wrote three Sanskrit plays. Many communities in various parts of India boast of being descendants of migrants from Kannauj, reflecting its glory in the past.[16] Soon after Harshavardhana's death, his empire disintegrated into many kingdoms, to be invaded and ruled mostly by Rajputs, who also challenged Bengal's mighty Pala Empire's control of the region.

Medieval

The fall of the post-Harshavardhana Rajput kings of north India came when the Turko-Afghan Muslim rulers moved into present day Uttar Pradesh. Much of the state formed part of the various Indo-Islamic empires (Sultanates) after 1000 AD and was ruled from their capital, Delhi.

Later, in Mughal times, U.P. became the heartland of their vast empire; they called the place 'Hindustan', which is used to this day as the name for India in several languages. Agra and Fatehpur Sikri were the capital cities of Akbar, the great Mughal Emperor of India. At their zenith, during the rule of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire covered almost the entire Indian subcontinent (including present day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh), which was ruled at different times from Delhi, Agra and Allahabad.

When the Mughal Empire disintegrated, their last territory remained confined to the Doab region of Hindustan and Delhi. Other areas of Hindustan (U.P.) were now ruled by different rulers: Oudh was ruled by the Nawabs of Oudh, Rohilkhand by Afghans, Bundelkhand by the Marathas and Benaras by its own king, while Nepal controlled Kumaon-Garhwal as a part of Greater Nepal. The state's capital city of Lucknow was established by the Muslim Nawabs of Oudh in the 18th century.

Modern-colonial

Starting from Bengal in the later half of the 18th century, a series of battles for North Indian lands finally gave the British East India Company accession over this state's territories - including the territories of Bundelkhand, Kumaon and Benaras rulers - and the last Mughal territories of Doab and Delhi. When the Company included Ajmer and Jaipur kingdoms in this northern territory, they named it the "North-Western Provinces" (of Agra). Today, the area may seem large compared to several of the Republic of India's present 'mini-states' - no more than the size of earlier 'divisions' of the British era - but at the time it was one of the smallest British provinces. Its capital shifted twice between Agra and Allahabad.

Due to dissatisfaction with British rule, a serious rebellion erupted in various parts of North India; Meerutcantonment's sepoy, Mangal Pandey, is widely credited as its starting point. It came to be known as the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After the revolt failed the British, in an attempt to divide the most rebellious regions, split the Delhi region from ‘NWFP of Agra’ and merged it with Punjab, while the Ajmer- Marwar region was merged with Rajputana and Oudh was incorporated into the state. The new state was called the 'North Western Provinces of Agra and Oudh', which in 1902 was renamed as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It was commonly referred to as the United Provinces or its acronym UP.

In 1920, the capital of the province was shifted from Allahabad to Lucknow. The high court continued to be at Allahabad, but a bench was established at Lucknow. Allahabad continues to be an important administrative base of today's Uttar Pradesh and has several administrative headquarters.

Post-independence

After independence, the state was renamed Uttar Pradesh ("northern province") by its first chief minister, Govind Ballabh Pant. Pant was well acquainted with and close to Jawaharlal Nehru (the first Prime Minister of free India) and was also popular in the Congress Party. He established such a good reputation in Lucknow that Nehru called him to Delhi, the capital and seat of Central Government of the country, to make him Home Minister of India in December 27, 1954. He was succeeded by Dr. Sampoornanand, a university professor and classicist Sanskrit scholar, who was chief minister till 1957, before becoming governor of Rajasthan.

Sucheta Kripalani served as India's first woman chief minister from October 1963 until March 1967, when a two-month long strike by state employees caused her to step down. After her, Chandra Bhanu Gupta assumed the office of Chief Minister with Laxmi Raman Acharya as Finance Minister, but the government lasted for only two years due to the confusion and chaos which ended only with the defection of Charan Singh from the Congress with a small set of legislators. He set up a party called the Jana Congress, which formed the first non-Congress government in U.P. and ruled for over a year.

Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna was chief minister for Congress Party government for part of the 1970s. He was dismissed by the Central Government headed by Indira Gandhi, along with several other non-Congress chief ministers, shortly after the imposition of the widely unpopular Emergency, when Narain Dutt Tewari - later chief minister of Uttarakhand - became chief minister. The Congress Party lost heavily in 1977 elections, following the lifting of the Emergency, but romped back to power in 1980, when Mrs. Gandhi handpicked the man who would later become her son's principal opposition, V.P. Singh, to become Chief Minister. On November 9, 2000, the Himalayan portion of the state, comprising the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions and Haridwar district, was formed into a new state, now called Uttarakhand, meaning the 'Northern Segment' state.

The larger Gangetic Plain region is in the north: it includes the Ganga-Yamuna Doab, the Ghaghra plains, the Ganga plains and the Terai. It has highly fertile alluvial soils and flat topography - (slope 2 m/km) - broken by numerous ponds, lakes and rivers.

The smaller Vindhya Hills and Plateau region is in the south: it is characterised by hard rock strata and varied topography of hills, plains, valleys and plateau; limited availability of water makes the region relatively arid.

Flora and fauna

Uttar Pradesh has 12.8% land under forest cover now. In spite of alarming deforestation and poaching of wild life, a diverse flora and fauna exists. Several species of trees, large and small mammals, reptiles and insects are found in the belt of temperate upper mountainous forests; medicinal plants are also found wild here, or are now grown on plantations. Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands support cattle. Moist deciduous trees grow in the upper Gangetic plain, including its riverbanks. In fact, this vast plain is so fertile and life supporting that any thing, which can live or grow anywhere, will do so here. Ganges and its tributaries are the habitat of a variety of large and small reptiles, amphibians, fresh-water fish and crabs. Mostly scrubs, trees like babool and animals like chinkara are found in the arid Vindhyas.[20][21] The state’s important plants and animals include the following: -

According to Hindu legend, Lord Rama’s warrior devotee Hanuman had brought life saving Sanjivani herbs from a mountain of this, or possibly the breakaway Uttarakhand, region.

Climate

The climate of Uttar Pradesh is predominantly subtropical, but weather conditions change significantly with location and seasons: -

Temperature: Depending on the elevation, the average temperatures vary from 12.5–17.5 °C (55–64 °F) in January to 27.5–32.5 °C (82–91 °F) in May and June. The highest temperature recorded in the State was 49.9 °C (121.8 °F) at Gonda on May 8, 1958.

Rainfall: Rainfall in the State ranges from 1,000–2,000 mm (39–79 in) in the east to 600–1,000 mm (24–39 in) in the west. About 90 percent of the rainfall occurs during the southwest Monsoon, lasting from about June to September. With most of the rainfall concentrated during this four-month period, floods are a recurring problem and cause heavy damage to crops, life, and property, particularly in the eastern part of the state, where the Himalayan-origin rivers flow with a very low north-south gradient.

Snowfall: In the Himalayan region of the State, annual snowfall averaging 3 to 5 metres (10 to 15 feet) is common between December and March.

Demographics

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India with a population of over 190 million people as of July 1, 2008. If it were a separate country, Uttar Pradesh would be the world's fifth most populous nation, next only to China, India, the United States of America and Indonesia. As of the 2001 census of India, slightly over 90% of Uttar Pradesh population is Hindu, while Muslims make up 8% of the population. The remaining population consists of Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Jains.[26]

The population of Uttar Pradesh is divided into numerous castes and sub-castes. Historically, Hindu society is divided into four sub-divisions or varnas, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, with a further fifth group which was considered to be outside the caste system, and are now known as Dalit. In actuality, Uttar Pradesh society is divided into numerous smaller grouping referred to as jatis.

Politics

The State Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) has 403 electoral constituencies. In the Uttar Pradesh Elections, 2007, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party achieved unexpected majority status, leading to her emergence as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. This is the first time, since 1991 victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a majority, that a single party has gained absolute majority; the last two decades having been mostly dominated by various coalitions among the Samajwadi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Bahujan Samaj Party. One characteristic of the BSP win in 2007 was the amalgamation of Brahmin votes into this Dalit dominated party,[28] as opposed to the decades-old trend of deep-rooted electoral divisions in the state between Dalits, Upper Castes, Muslims and different OBC groups, which tend to vote in blocks. Mayawati, having won 206 seats, took the oath of secrecy for the post of UP's next CM on 13 May 2007. She became Chief Minister for the fourth time. Along with her 19 cabinet rank ministers, 21 Ministers of State holding Independent Charge were also sworn in by the Governor T. V. Rajeswar. Some of the prominent names of her cabinet colleagues are: Awadhpal Singh, Babu Singh Kushwaha, Badshah Singh, Nasimuddin Siddiqui, Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, Ratanlal Ahirwar and Sudhir Goyal. Former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party stood second in State with 97 seats.

The contemporary political scene is also interesting in the national context. Heirs-apparent to the Nehru-Gandhi family have adopted U.P. as their home state. Congress President Sonia Gandhi represents Rae Bareli and her son Rahul GandhiAmethi, Sultanpur. Indira Gandhi's estranged daughter-in-law Maneka Gandhi is a BJP Parliamentarian, while her son Varun Gandhi has also made his debut as a BJP politician and is a member of Lok Sabha. Other prominent politicians include BJP leader and past Human Resources Development minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, SP leader and ex-Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, BSP leader and now fourth time Chief Minister Mayawati, BJP President and ex-Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, former BJP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh , Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh and ex-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and later of Uttarakhand, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Ex Information & Broadcasting Minister, Govt. of India, Zafar Ali Naqvi Minister of Education, UP Govt. etc.

At the lowest tier of political pyramid the state has a large number of village councils, known as Panchayats, which are similar to those found in other states in India.

Education

The region of Uttar Pradesh had a long tradition of learning, although it had remained mostly confined to the elite class and the religious establishment. Sanskrit-based education comprising the learning of Vedic-to-Gupta periods, coupled with the later Pali corpus of knowledge and a vast store of ancient-to-medieval learning in Persian/Arabic languages, had formed the core of Hindu-Buddhist-Muslim education, until the rise of British power. The present schools-to-university system of education owes its inception and development here, as in the rest of the country, to foreign Christian missionaries and the British colonial administration.

Aligarh Muslim University is a residential academic institution. Modelled on the British University of Cambridge, it was established by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in 1875 – then named as Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College - and in 1920 it was granted the status of a Central University by an Act of Indian Parliament. Located in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, it was among the first institutions of higher learning set up during the British Raj.

Banaras Hindu University is a Central University located in Varanasi.[29] It evolved out of the Central Hindu College of Varanasi, set up by Annie Besant - a colourful British lady of Irish descent - who joined hands with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in April 1911 for a common Hindu University at Varanasi. Eventually, the Banaras Hindu University started functioning from 1 October 1917, with the Central Hindu College as its first constituent college. Most of the money for the university came from Hindu princes and its present 1,350-acre (5.5 km2) campus was built on land donated by the Kashi Naresh. Regarded as the largest residential university in Asia,[30] it has more than 128 independent teaching departments; several of its colleges - including science, linguistics, law, engineering (IT-BHU) and medicine (IMS-BHU) - are ranked amongst the best in India.[31] The university's total enrollment stands at just over 15000, including the students from abroad. It will be the only university in India that will host one of the IITs in its premises - the IT-BHU - from academic session 2010.[32]

Economy

Uttar Pradesh is the second largest state-economy in India[33] after Maharashtra, contributing 8.17% to India's total GDP.[citation needed] Between 1999 and 2008, the economy grew only 4.4% per year, one of the lowest rates in India.[34]

The major economic activity in the state is agriculture; in 1991, 73% of the population in the state was engaged in agriculture and 46% of the state income was accounted for by agriculture. UP has retained its preeminent position in the country as a food-surplus state.[citation needed]

Uttar Pradesh is home to largest number of Small Scale industrial units in the country, with 12% of over 2.3 million units.[35] But, industrial output has been adversely affected by erratic power supply from the UP State Electricity Board and remains far below its full production capacity. Unavailability of adequate raw materials at competitive prices is another negative factor. Also, like in most parts of India, traders and middlemen make most of the profits while the labour class lives at subsistence level.

In spite of these, labour efficiency is higher in UP at 26 than the national average of 25.[35] Following are some of the important industrial hubs in the state: -

Picture shows the Sector-18 junction, with SabMall in the background, in NOIDA, U.P.

Globalisation as well as Western influence through media are impacting the Uttar Pradeshi's life style, and economy is gearing itself to cater to new tastes and consumerism. A visible sign of this is seen in the elegant shopping malls coming up in up beat localities in big cities.

The economy also benefits from the State's thriving tourism industry.

Tourism

Uttar Pradesh attracts a large number of visitors, both national and international; with more than 71 million domestic tourists (in 2003) and almost 25% of the All-India foreign tourists visiting Uttar Pradesh, it is one of the top tourist destinations in India.[35] There are two regions in the state where a majority of the tourists go, viz. the Agra circuit and the Hindu pilgrimage circuit.

Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by MughalEmperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is cited as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage."

Agra Fort is about 2.5 km northwest of its much more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled palatial city.

Fatehpur Sikri was the world famous 16th century capital city near Agra, built by the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great, whose mausoleum in Agra is also worth a visit.

Dayal Bagh in Agra is a modern day temple and popular tourist sight. Its lifelike sculptures in marble are unique in India. Agra's dubious modern attractions include Asia's largest Spa as well as Asia's first and only 6D theatre.

The pilgrimage circuit includes the holiest of the Hindu holy cities on the banks of sacred rivers Ganga and the Yamuna: Varanasi (also considered world's oldest city), Ayodhya (birth place of Lord Rama), Mathura (birth place of Lord Krishna) and Allahabad (the confluence or 'holy-sangam' of the sacred Ganga-Yamuna rivers).

Varanasi is widely considered to be one of the oldest cities in the world. It is famous for its ghats (bathing steps along the river), full of pilgrims year round who come to bathe in the sacred Ganges River.

Mathura is wold-famous for its colourful celebrations of the Holi festival, which attracts many tourists also - thanks partly to the hype, which the Indian film industry has given to this highly entertaining socio-religious festival.

Thousands gather at Allahabad to take part in the Magh Mela festival, which is held on the banks of the Ganges. This festival is organised on a larger scale every 12th year and is called the Kumbha Mela, where over 10 million Hindu pilgrims congregate — the largest gathering of human beings in the world.[citation needed]

Transportation

Expressway

The 2nd Yamuna Bridge

The state has a large network of multimodal transportation system: -

Airways: The state has four major airports and 23 airstrips. Cities that have nationally well connected domestic airports are Lucknow, Agra, Kanpur and Varanasi. Lucknow is the largest and most important airport of the state. Bareilly's Trishul Air-base will soon serve also as a domestic airport.

Railways: Almost all the major as well as smaller cities of the state are linked through railways. It has largest railway network in the country; with a total length of 8,546 km (as on 2006) and the sixth largest railway density.

Roadways: The state has largest road network in the country, after Maharashtra. It boasts of 31 National Highways (NH), with a total length of 4,942 km (8.5% of total NH length in India). It has seventh highest road density in India, (1,027 km per 1000 km,2 as on 2002 ) and largest surfaced urban road network in the country (50,721 km, as on 2002). Cities of Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Allahabad, Varanasi, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Agra and Ghazipur are connected to a number of National Highways. With an existing expressway between Lucknow and Kanpur, new expressways are coming up between Agra and Noida and between Noida and Ballia (near Ghazipur). The State Government’s road transport company Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) serves nationalized routes in the state for intrastate and interstate transport.

Waterways: A long stretch of the river Ganges - from Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) to Haldia (West Bengal) - has been declared as National Waterway (NW)-I and 600 km of the total NW-I lies in Uttar Pradesh.

Although, the state has a large and diversified transportation network, its condition and functioning need substantial improvement.

Culture

Architecture

Architectural legacies of the past millennia of Uttar Pradesh survive to varying extent. The oldest of them fall within the purview of archeology or mythology; religious places in the State - identifiable in the narratives of Puranas and other sacred literature of Indian religions - have architectural edifices that are very old and have been built over repeatedly in course of time.

Medieval kings and emperors have left imposing monuments: forts, palaces, temples, mosques and mausoleums, whose external and internal grandeur recalls the opulence of those times. British colonial architecture is still seen in many cities' judicial buildings, hospitals, banks, post offices, police stations, and railway stations.

Art and craft

Uttar Pradesh is famous for its rich heritage of art and craft. Most famous centres are the following:

Bareilly boasts for its Zari work, (a type of fabric decoration), Surma (Kohl) and intricate ear-rings or ear-pendants called 'Jhumka'.

Firozabad, the city of bangles, is also a hub for crafting many glass accessories. The glass artifacts produced in its factories are of high value and are exported all over the country and around the world.

Kannauj is well known for oriental perfumes, scents and rose water and also for traditional tobacco products.

Kanpur is internationally known for its leather craft; shoes and other leather items are made here for the Indian market and exported to foreign countries as well.

Khurja is famous for its ceramics pottery; in fact, the entire state is famous for its pottery not only in India but also around the world.

Lucknow, the capital, boasts of its cloth work and embroidery (chikan) work on silk and cotton garments.

Bhadohi is known for carpets and also known as dollar-city; beside this, it is one of the highest revenue generating districts of UP.

Moradabad is well known for its metal-ware, especially brass artifacts.

Pilibhit is known for its wooden footwear (locally called Khadaon) and also for flutes made of wooden pipes. Flutes are exported to Europe, America and other countries.

Saharanpur is known all over India and abroad for its wood-carving items produced there.

Varanasi is famous for its Banarasisaris and silk. A banarasi sari is an essential part of any marriage in the state.

Language and literature

Uttar Pradesh is often referred to as the 'Hindi heartland of India'.[37] While the languages of state administration are Hindi,[38] established by the Uttar Pradesh Official Language Act, 1951, and Urdu, established by the Amendment to the same in 1989, the native languages of the state are considered as dialects of Hindi, both by the common populace as well as the State and Central Governmental authorities. Linguistically, the state spreads across the Central, East-Central and Eastern zones of the Indo-Aryan languages, the major native languages of the state being Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Bundeli, Braj Bhasha, Kannauji and the vernacular form of Khari boli, which also forms the basis for the standardised Hindi and Urdu registers. Bagheli is spoken on the southwestern fringes of the state.[39] The state government promotes the native dialects in cultural festivals[40] - education in the dialects, however, is negligible. Moreover, the literature of the two main literary dialects of the medieval era, Braj Bhasha and Awadhi, is considered to be subsumed under Hindi literature. While once these two dialects were the main literary vehicles in the region, any progress in literature in them or any of the other native languages is negligible.

The number of speakers of the native languages is difficult to estimate from various records or enumerations, because most educated people in the urban areas speak Hindi as their mother tongue - the language of administration and education - while people in the rural areas retain "Hindi" as the generic name for their language, primarily because of a lack of a linguistic awareness.[citation needed] Recently, however, Bhojpuri has seen a linguistic assertion of sorts, while there has been weak activism with respect to Bundeli.

Dance and music

The state is home to a very ancient tradition in dance and music. During the eras of Guptas and Harsh Vardhan, Uttar Pradesh was a major centre for musical innovation. Swami Haridas was a great saint-musician who championed Hindustani classical music. Tansen, the great musician in Mughal Emperor Akbar's court, was a disciple of Swami Haridas. The ragas sung by Tansen were believed to be so powerful that they could bring rain, or light a fire, when recited.

Kathak, a classical dance form, involving gracefully coordinated movements of feet and arms along with the entire body, grew and flourished in Uttar Pradesh. Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh, was a great patron and a passionate champion of Kathak. Today, the state is home to two prominent schools of this dance form, namely, Lucknow Gharana and Banaras Gharana.

The region's folk heritage includes songs called rasiya (known and especially popular in Braj), which celebrate the divine love of Radha and Shri Krishna. These songs are accompanied by large drums known as bumb and are performed at many festivals. Other folk dances or folk theater forms include:

Lokrang Sanskritik Samiti - an organisation of Jogia Janubi Patti, Fazilanagar, Kushinagar - is doing research work in the field of Folk-songs, Folk-artists and Folk-cultures. In the month of May, every year the Samiti organises its function "Lokrang". More than 150 artists and writers participate in this programme.

Cuisine

Uttar Pradesh has a rich tradition of sumptuous vegetarian and non-vegetarian food preparations and of sweetmeats, seen at their best on formal occasions.

A formal vegetarian meal of Uttar Pradesh consists of chapatis, rotis (flatbread) and/or puris (deep fried puffed flatbreads), daal (thick lentil soup), rice (boiled white rice), vegetable curries (one or more of dry/fried and semi-liquid curries each), curd, pickles, papad (thin spicy crackers) and a variety of sweets. It is normally served in metal dishes and traditionally eaten without the use of cutlery, sitting on the bare floor. When a large gathering is to be feasted in a traditional manner, food may also be served on disposable, flat platters (called 'pattal'), which are made by intertwining broad leaves of certain trees.

A non-vegetarian meal consists of many varieties of meat- or rice-preparations that have evolved in the region, and are now nationally and internationally known as the Moghlai cuisine; some of these are: kebab, kofta, korma, keema, pulao, biryani, parathas (plain or stuffed), halwa, firni etc. In addition, a selection from the above vegetarian dishes may be present among the food spread. Traditionally, food is served in metal-ware or ceramic crockery, eaten directly with bare hands or (sometimes) with spoons, sitting on the ground covered with a flooring material like cloth-sheet or carpet.

Dress

The people of Uttar Pradesh wear a variety of native- and Western-style dress. Traditional styles of dress include colourful draped garments, such as sari for women and dhoti or lungi for men, and stitched clothes, such as salwar kameez for women and kurta-pyjama for men. European-style trousers and shirts are also common among the educated men.

Dress material is chosen as per the need of the weather; hence, fabrics made of cotton and cotton-synthetic blends are common in summer and warm clothing, made of wool or synthetic-wool, is needed in winter, when a sweater, jacket and/or a coat may be worn, specially during peak winter.

Festivals

Religious practices are as much an integral part of everyday life, and a very public affair, as they are in the rest of India. Therefore, not surprisingly, many festivals are religious in origin, although several of them are celebrated irrespective of caste and creed.

Television: Telecasting had begun in India in 1959, with test educational telecasting in New Delhi. Doordarshan started black-and-white small-screen programming in the mid 1970s and 1982 saw colour version of TV.[43] Several private TV Channels, functioning now at national level, have become a vibrant and very effective part of the media. Satellite-telecasting has revolutionized their reach. Telecasts of important cricket matches draw enormous viewers; even street-side TV-sets attract crowds of cricket fans.

Newspapers and Magazines etc. A number of periodicals are published in Hindi, English and Urdu. Growth of journalism had its roots as much in the initiative of resident Britons as in the Indian freedom movement and the need for dissemination of other news and messages of socio-religious reforms. The Pioneer was founded in Allahabad in 1865 by George Allen, an Englishman.[44] It was brought out three times a week from 1865 to 1869 and daily thereafter. In 1866, a supplement, the Pioneer Mail, consisting mostly of advertisements, was added to the publication. Also from Allahabad, a nationalist newspaper The National Herald had started publication, under the patronage of the Nehrus and M.C. Rau as its editor, during the British period. Sidque, a famous Urdu weekly, was started in that period by the highly respected intellectual Moulana Abdul Maajid Daryabadi for reforming the Indo-Islamic society. Presently, all major national level dailies are publishing their ‘City Editions’ from several major cities of the state. The State's own ‘native’ publications - dailies/ weeklies/ monthlies - are numerous, and mostly in Hindi and Urdu languages. Some Hindi language dailies, e.g. Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagran, have a wide circulation, with their local editions being published from several important cities. National Herald now publishes an Urdu version also. At still lower level, locally published newspapers and literary weeklies and monthlies are extremely large in number.

Audio-visuals production: In spite of its large size, Bollywood level Production of films for the silver screen, or of informative short documentary films of high standard, has not grown in Uttar Pradesh. However, artists and writers from the state have continued to contribute in centres of the Indian film industry, as song- and story-writers, composers and musicians, lyricists, actors, directors and producers.

Sports

Presently, common sports of Uttar Pradesh are of two distinct genre: the traditional sports and the modern sports of mainly European origin.

Traditional sports, now played mostly as a past time, include wrestling, swimming, kabaddi and track- or water-sports played according to local traditional rules and without use of modern gears; some times, display of martial skills using a sword or ‘Pata’ (stick) etc. form the basis of sports. Due to lack of organized patronage and requisite facilities, these sports are surviving mostly as individuals' hobbies or local competitive events, e.g. in interested schools.

Modern sports - the indoor, field and track games - are popular, especially among the educated class, but the State has yet to attain all-round national standing in most of them. Field hockey is very popular and Uttar Pradesh has produced some of the finest players in India. Dhyan Chand, the legendary field hockey player of India and a hero of many Olympic Games was born on 29 August 1905, in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Adolf Hitler, the Chancellor of Germany, was so impressed by Dhyan Chand's performance in the Berlin Olympic hockey finals that he offered to elevate 'Lance Naik' Dhyan Chand to the rank of a Colonel if he migrated to Germany; Chand had declined the offer.[citation needed]

Cricket has become more popular than field hockey. Though not renowned for it cricket team, U.P. won its first Ranji Trophy tournament in February 2006, beating Bengal in the final. It can also boast of its 3 or 4 players normally finding a place in the national side. Green Park Stadium in Kanpur is one of the oldest cricket venues in India and has witnessed some of India's most famous victories.

Understand

Uttar Pradesh has the largest population of nearly 167 million.
Its is also the fifth largest state in terms of land area. The
western plain is the most urban region. Agriculture is the most
important section of the UP’s economy, employing about
three-fourths of the work force. Uttar Pradesh has the largest
production of food grain and oil seeds in India. In addition, UP
ranks the first in the production of wheat, maize, barley, gram,
sugar cane, and potatoes. The three most important industries of UP
are sugar, cotton fabrics and diversified food preparations. Goods
carrier equipment, photostat machines, chemicals, polyester fiber
and steel tube galvanized sheets are the other big industries of
UP.

The Kathak dance style, the most popular classical dance form in
India, nourished in UP. Today, foreign countries have also learned
this elegant dance form to perfection: the beautiful Veronique Azan
as an example. The countryside songs and dances are significant
traits of local culture. Uttar Pradesh famous for handicrafts such
as, carpet weaving, hand printing, chikan (a type of embroidery),
metal enameling, brocade and brass, and ebony work. Also, UP has
the biggest Brass and Copperware manufacture area in India.

The history of the State of Uttar Pradesh is very ancient and
interesting. It is recognised in the later Vedic Age as Brahmarshi
Desha or Madhya Desha. Many great sages of the Vedic times like
Bharadwaja, Gautam, Yagyavalkya, Vasishta, Vishwamitra and Valmiki
flourished in this state. Several sacred books of the Aryans were
also composed here. Two great epics of India, Ramayana and
Mahabharata, appear to have been inspired by Uttar Pradesh.

In the sixth century BC, Uttar Pradesh was associated with two
new religions - Jainism and Buddhism. It was at Sarnath that Buddha
preached his first sermon and laid the foundations of his order,
and it was in Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, where Buddha breathed
his last. Several centres in Uttar Pradesh like Ayodhya, Prayag,
Varanasi and Mathura became reputed centres of learning. In the
medieval period, Uttar Pradesh passed under Muslim rule and led the
way to new synthesis of Hindu and Islamic cultures. Ramananda and
his Muslim disciple Kabir, Tulsidas, Surdas and many other
intellectuals contributed to the growth of Hindi and other
languages.

Uttar Pradesh preserved its intellectual excellency even under
the British administration. The British combined Agra and Oudh into
one province, and called it United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The
name was shortened to the United Provinces in 1935. In January
1950, the United Provinces was renamed as Uttar Pradesh.

The State is bounded by Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in the
north, Haryana in the west, Madhya Pradesh in the south, and Bihar
in the east. Uttar Pradesh can be divided into two distinct
regions, (i) Southern hills and (ii) Gangetic plain.

See

1.Sangam, Anand Bhavan, Minto Park, Sita Samahit Isthal, Company
Garden, New yamuna Bridge, and lots more in the holy city
Allahabad(Prayag). 2.Ghats at Varanasi(Kashi). 3.Nawab's or Royal
city Lucknow.

Do

Take a holy dip in Sangam at Allahabad and visit ghats at
Varanasi and it is a very royal place .it is the capital of uttar
pradesh

Eat

Lucknow ,capital city of Uttar Pradesh is a heaven for food
lovers because of the sheer range of variety available
there...Lucknow ,before being seat of Nawabs(Kings) of Awadh region
,is the birth place famous awadhi cuisine. It is where you can find
refined Muslim indian food. be sure to visit Old Lucknow where its
normal to have eatries which are 150-200years old serving Famed
Lucknowi Biryani(mutton & Basmati rice preparation with exotic
herbs), nehari,kulcha,sheermal etc etc. Varanasi is another city
where people live for eating..but more famous for Hindu Vegetarian
style which includes chaat, tikki,kachori etc etc.

Stay safe

Utter Pradesh lead India's kidnapping statistics by quite a
substantial margin with 4.478 cases reported in the 2008, 16
percent of all kidnappings happening in the country. While this
mainly concern to natives, as always travel sensibly and remain
vigilant.

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